When Barack Obama was elected President of
the United States in 2009, the celebrations in Kenya were so
enthusiastic that one could have been forgiven for thinking he'd just
taken over from President Kibaki.
The outpouring of joy and pride among Kenyans was a massive boost to the national ego coming after the debacle of the previous year's post-election violence. "There is a Kenyan in the [White] House!", many of us crowed. Being a committed tribal nation too this call was also accompanied by "There's a Luo in the House!"
We were blissfully unaware that American politics has become toxically partisan and there are nutters about in the US trying to question President Obama's credentials arguing he is not an American! His Kenyan roots are being used as part of a wider concerted campaign to discredit him.
The joyful delirium after his election lasted around 48 hours and grim reality set back in. In fact when people thought it through properly, they realised that had Obama been a Kenyan politician, he probably would never have been elected: he comes from the wrong tribe; attacks corruption a little too energetically; supports a woman's right to choose and gay marriage; and, has never been accused of or prosecuted for grand corruption or fraud.
OPS! THE 'JUNIOR' SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS GETS ELECTED PRESIDENT!
When he had visited Kenya in 2006 and made remarks criticising tribalism and corruption, some government officials dismissed him 'as a mere junior Senator from Illinois'.
It earned him the enduring antipathy of some of Kibaki's diehard supporters. Among the older generation the consternation was compounded by the fact that they had never imagined a black man in the White House. Actually, to this day, some still haven't come to terms with it, especially those wazee who were educated in the US in the 1950s and 1960s.
They simply did not have the political frequencies in their heads to grasp the sheer magic and scale of the historical moment that Obama's election implied. That said, there are also many Americans with the same political 'bandwidth problems'.
It remains a testament to the robustness of America's democratic model - with its multitude of imperfections - that an African American could be elected to the White House three decades after Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis Tennessee. It's a place where dreams do indeed come true and on a massive scale. The shock of his election among those who had abused him when he visited in 2006 was such that the government did an urgent about face and declared a public holiday to catch up with the real mood on the ground and celebrate together with the rest of the population.
OBAMA, KENYA AND THE ICC:
This is President Obama's second visit to Africa. Last time, in 2009, he passed through Ghana for one-and-a-half days. There was disappointment if not too much surprise that he chose not to drop in on his 'home country' of Kenya. This time he is going to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.
Once again he is not coming to Kenya. Most knew why - state visits to countries where the head of state and his deputy are defendants at the ICC for crimes against humanity is bad politics and poor diplomacy. The White Houses' Ben Rhodes told journalists: "We also as a country have a commitment to accountability and justice as a baseline principle.
And given the fact that Kenya is in the aftermath of their election and the new government has come into place and is going to be reviewing these issues with the ICC and the international community, it just wasn't the best time for the president to travel to Kenya at this point." That the White House chose to press this point was taken as significant by some observers given that silence would have been understood in the same way.
The anecdotal evidence is that among ordinary wananchi disappointment that Obama wont be visiting his 'home country' is real. It reminds us all too painfully that 'normal' ended with the last election and we are in uncharted political waters. Such is the slap in the face that one prominent businessman hallucinated himself into having received an invitation to meet President Obama so he could 'reject' it in a contrived episode of patriotic pique. In real terms too, though the government will put a brave face on it, it's a reverberating blow to the Kenya government.
Kenya is the most important country on this side of the African continent in economic and military cooperation terms. It is also one of the oldest and most consistent allies the US has ever had in Sub Saharan Africa. The war against terror has only served to attenuate the critical importance of this relationship. Much to the chagrin of the human rights fraternity and important elements of the Muslim community, for example, Kenya's security forces seem to generally pick up anyone the US tells them to.
The leading Kenyan Muslim human rights advocate, Al-Amin Kimathi of the Muslim Human Rights Forum, for example was arrested and held for months in Uganda a couple of years ago when he travelled there to inquire after the conditions of a group of Kenyans allegedly illegally renditioned there. When his lawyer Mbugua Mureithi showed up to assist Kimathi, the Ugandans arrested him too! This blatant subordination of the constitutional rights of Kenyans continues to be deeply unpopular and rightly so.
A former US government official I chatted to last week also explained that an influential domestic constituency in America - both in the corridors of power, civil society and media - would not have reacted kindly to President Obama meeting with Messrs. Kenyatta and Ruto. The 'consequences' former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Johnnie Carson, warned about have clearly started to kick in.
KENYA AND THE WEST: LOSE-LOSE
The ICC and the fact that Kenya's head of state and his deputy are defendants before it, has caused an unprecedented diplomatic quagmire, and in terms of relations with the West - a lose-lose situation for both sides.
The Jubilee coalition was created by the situation the ICC cases presented - possibly a first-time conundrum for the ICC. It is unprecedented for the Kenya Government too: we have the clearest and most aggressively articulated foreign policy in our country's independent history. Our diplomats are working overtime to very clear objectives.
Their most important success thus far has been to get the African Union, while celebrating its golden jubilee last month, to get Kenya and the ICC to the top of the agenda and belligerently so without the slightest hint of irony considering that it was Kenya's own leaders who chose the ICC route. They have then proceeded to stare down the West by constructing the narrative of the ICC as an anti-African political tool of the West.
Thus the push for 'Kenya to look East'. In and of itself this fits with aspirations African progressives have had since the 1960s and 70s when there was much talk about South-South cooperation led by Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad and Tanzania's Julius Nyerere. A criminal case is fast tracking the cooperation! Kenya has an ancient relationship with the 'East'. China's relationship with East Africa, for example, goes back to the 15th century. In the 17th century the Omanis showed up and their Sultan actually made Zanzibar his capital in 1837.
The West is in a lose-lose relationship with Kenya for now. They are helpless: at once trapped by their need to adhere to international norms of human rights and good governance that they articulated and have exported globally, and powerful interests that must be massaged continuously. At the same time playing off the East versus the West is slightly more complicated than things were during the Cold War because of the interdependence globalization has created. Still, as Kenya courts 'new' friends its becoming clear that this means the creation of new enemies as well.
Obama: 'Kenyan in the House' by John Githongo
The outpouring of joy and pride among Kenyans was a massive boost to the national ego coming after the debacle of the previous year's post-election violence. "There is a Kenyan in the [White] House!", many of us crowed. Being a committed tribal nation too this call was also accompanied by "There's a Luo in the House!"
We were blissfully unaware that American politics has become toxically partisan and there are nutters about in the US trying to question President Obama's credentials arguing he is not an American! His Kenyan roots are being used as part of a wider concerted campaign to discredit him.
The joyful delirium after his election lasted around 48 hours and grim reality set back in. In fact when people thought it through properly, they realised that had Obama been a Kenyan politician, he probably would never have been elected: he comes from the wrong tribe; attacks corruption a little too energetically; supports a woman's right to choose and gay marriage; and, has never been accused of or prosecuted for grand corruption or fraud.
OPS! THE 'JUNIOR' SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS GETS ELECTED PRESIDENT!
When he had visited Kenya in 2006 and made remarks criticising tribalism and corruption, some government officials dismissed him 'as a mere junior Senator from Illinois'.
It earned him the enduring antipathy of some of Kibaki's diehard supporters. Among the older generation the consternation was compounded by the fact that they had never imagined a black man in the White House. Actually, to this day, some still haven't come to terms with it, especially those wazee who were educated in the US in the 1950s and 1960s.
They simply did not have the political frequencies in their heads to grasp the sheer magic and scale of the historical moment that Obama's election implied. That said, there are also many Americans with the same political 'bandwidth problems'.
It remains a testament to the robustness of America's democratic model - with its multitude of imperfections - that an African American could be elected to the White House three decades after Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis Tennessee. It's a place where dreams do indeed come true and on a massive scale. The shock of his election among those who had abused him when he visited in 2006 was such that the government did an urgent about face and declared a public holiday to catch up with the real mood on the ground and celebrate together with the rest of the population.
OBAMA, KENYA AND THE ICC:
This is President Obama's second visit to Africa. Last time, in 2009, he passed through Ghana for one-and-a-half days. There was disappointment if not too much surprise that he chose not to drop in on his 'home country' of Kenya. This time he is going to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.
Once again he is not coming to Kenya. Most knew why - state visits to countries where the head of state and his deputy are defendants at the ICC for crimes against humanity is bad politics and poor diplomacy. The White Houses' Ben Rhodes told journalists: "We also as a country have a commitment to accountability and justice as a baseline principle.
And given the fact that Kenya is in the aftermath of their election and the new government has come into place and is going to be reviewing these issues with the ICC and the international community, it just wasn't the best time for the president to travel to Kenya at this point." That the White House chose to press this point was taken as significant by some observers given that silence would have been understood in the same way.
The anecdotal evidence is that among ordinary wananchi disappointment that Obama wont be visiting his 'home country' is real. It reminds us all too painfully that 'normal' ended with the last election and we are in uncharted political waters. Such is the slap in the face that one prominent businessman hallucinated himself into having received an invitation to meet President Obama so he could 'reject' it in a contrived episode of patriotic pique. In real terms too, though the government will put a brave face on it, it's a reverberating blow to the Kenya government.
Kenya is the most important country on this side of the African continent in economic and military cooperation terms. It is also one of the oldest and most consistent allies the US has ever had in Sub Saharan Africa. The war against terror has only served to attenuate the critical importance of this relationship. Much to the chagrin of the human rights fraternity and important elements of the Muslim community, for example, Kenya's security forces seem to generally pick up anyone the US tells them to.
The leading Kenyan Muslim human rights advocate, Al-Amin Kimathi of the Muslim Human Rights Forum, for example was arrested and held for months in Uganda a couple of years ago when he travelled there to inquire after the conditions of a group of Kenyans allegedly illegally renditioned there. When his lawyer Mbugua Mureithi showed up to assist Kimathi, the Ugandans arrested him too! This blatant subordination of the constitutional rights of Kenyans continues to be deeply unpopular and rightly so.
A former US government official I chatted to last week also explained that an influential domestic constituency in America - both in the corridors of power, civil society and media - would not have reacted kindly to President Obama meeting with Messrs. Kenyatta and Ruto. The 'consequences' former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Johnnie Carson, warned about have clearly started to kick in.
KENYA AND THE WEST: LOSE-LOSE
The ICC and the fact that Kenya's head of state and his deputy are defendants before it, has caused an unprecedented diplomatic quagmire, and in terms of relations with the West - a lose-lose situation for both sides.
The Jubilee coalition was created by the situation the ICC cases presented - possibly a first-time conundrum for the ICC. It is unprecedented for the Kenya Government too: we have the clearest and most aggressively articulated foreign policy in our country's independent history. Our diplomats are working overtime to very clear objectives.
Their most important success thus far has been to get the African Union, while celebrating its golden jubilee last month, to get Kenya and the ICC to the top of the agenda and belligerently so without the slightest hint of irony considering that it was Kenya's own leaders who chose the ICC route. They have then proceeded to stare down the West by constructing the narrative of the ICC as an anti-African political tool of the West.
Thus the push for 'Kenya to look East'. In and of itself this fits with aspirations African progressives have had since the 1960s and 70s when there was much talk about South-South cooperation led by Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad and Tanzania's Julius Nyerere. A criminal case is fast tracking the cooperation! Kenya has an ancient relationship with the 'East'. China's relationship with East Africa, for example, goes back to the 15th century. In the 17th century the Omanis showed up and their Sultan actually made Zanzibar his capital in 1837.
The West is in a lose-lose relationship with Kenya for now. They are helpless: at once trapped by their need to adhere to international norms of human rights and good governance that they articulated and have exported globally, and powerful interests that must be massaged continuously. At the same time playing off the East versus the West is slightly more complicated than things were during the Cold War because of the interdependence globalization has created. Still, as Kenya courts 'new' friends its becoming clear that this means the creation of new enemies as well.
Obama: 'Kenyan in the House' by John Githongo
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